The Pyrotechnist's Treasury Part 6

To make a cracker with 30 or 40 bangs, it is necessary to join 3 or 4 pipes together, before putting in the grain powder: the mode of making a joining will be understood by attending to the following directions. Cut a piece of paper 3 inches square, and lay it straight before you. At one inch from the right top corner, make a mark; at one inch from the left bottom corner, make a mark; draw an oblique straight line from one to the other, and cut along it with a pair of scissors. Without disturbing the relative position of the two pieces, draw the right piece a few inches towards the right; paste the farther edges, as usual; lay the wire close along the near edge of the right piece, and roll it up; it will have an external spiral; roll up the left piece in the same manner; it will have an internal spiral; when both are dry, paste the external spiral, and screw it, as it were, into the other piece. If managed carefully, and brought up till the edge of the paper forms a straight line, the joining will be as firm as if the paper had not been cut, presenting only a spiral edge, going once round the pipe.

LEADER PIPES.

These are for piping quickmatch; they are rolled exactly like pinwheel pipes, on wires of different thickness, to suit the size of the match.

They must be large enough to admit the match easily, without much pushing, which would break it; otherwise, the more nearly they fit the match, the more rapidly it blows through. The fire is conveyed from the tail of one case to the mouth of another, by a short piece of pipe, d, fig. 80, with the match projecting at both ends; when the fire has to be conveyed to two other cases at once, a fresh bit of piping is slipped on, and the match left exposed, as at a; or a piece is cut out of the side, as at b; each end should be bent into a hook, as at c, to prevent its slipping back. Wheel cases are to be enveloped by rolling a piece of double-crown twice or thrice round them, two inches longer than the case, as fig. 82, shown by the dotted lines. Suppose you have six wheel cases ready charged; lay six pieces of double-crown flat before you, and work them back with the thumbnail, as before described; paste the 6 edges; lay the 6 wheel cases in a row, side by side, and draw the paste brush across the middle, as if pasting your knuckles; then roll one in each envelope, so that it projects an inch at each end. Put the leader pipe in, and tie it with a piece of carpet thread, thin twine, or waxed yellow flax or hemp, as at fig. 83. To join one pipe to another, to lengthen it; suppose you have a piece of match 40 inches, long, and two pipes of 20 inches each. Slip both the pipes on the match, so that they touch in the middle; take the end of one, so touching, gather it round the match; pinch the end of the pipe tapering, push it into the other, and bind a piece of pasted paper round, to secure the joint. In cutting a matched pipe straight across, of course the match inside gets cut flush; do not leave it so, but, with a pair of pointed scissors, cut away a quarter of an inch of the pipe all round, and bend the exposed match, as at c, fig. 80, before putting it into the envelope of the case. Besides a strong pair of pointed scissors, a small pair, 3 inches long, with rounded ends, to carry constantly in the waistcoat pocket, will be found convenient for many purposes.

_MAROONS._

Take 3 inches of a 6/8 or 3/8 rocket case. Fix, in one end, a cork, half an inch long; put in 2 inches of F grain powder; on this, another cork.

Wind string tightly round it, lengthwise, 6 or 8 folds, side by side; bend it to a right angle, and wind 6 or 8 more folds; and so on, till covered; then wind crosswise; and again, at right angles, as in fig. 74.

Dip it into melted glue, and put by to dry. When dry, make a bradawl hole through one part, to reach the powder. Make sure of this, by inverting it, and letting a little drop out. Insert a short port-fire, having a piece of match at the bottom, and touch-papered at the top.

ANOTHER METHOD.

Take a rocket case, 5 inches long, and unchoked. Put in one solid inch of plaster of paris. When this is dry, pour in 3 inches of F grain-powder; on this put another solid inch of plaster of paris. When dry, wind string tightly round it, up and down the cylindrical part, not the ends, till of two thicknesses. Paint the string over with melted glue. Make a bradawl hole in the middle of one side; fasten to it a squib, without a bang, having a piece of quickmatch at the end, to enter the hole. Cover the joining with two layers of pasted paper. On the other side, below, fasten a short piece of deal, like a rocket stick, with a point, to put into the ground, fig. 72. After lighting the touchpaper, remove to a distance; as bits of string are likely to get driven into the face, on the explosion.

To fire a salute with maroons, at regular intervals of time. Charge a port-fire, and saw it into inch lengths; envelope each in a piece of double-crown, 3 inches broad, and long enough to go thrice round the port-fire. Hang the maroons to hooks, or otherwise suspend them, on a frame, a foot distance from each other, as a, b, c, fig. 75. Underneath them fasten, with binding screws, or tie to nails, the port-fires x, y.

Connect the port-fires with one another, and with the maroons, by leaders, in the usual way. On lighting at w, the first maroon explodes, and the first port-fire catches; this, having burnt, lights the second maroon and the second port-fire; and the port-fires being of the same length, the intervals of time between the explosions of the maroons will be the same.

_GOLD AND SILVER RAINS._

These are little cases, 2-1/2 inches long, rolled on a 1/4-inch former, and filled with the funnel and wire. They may be primed like fig. 29 or 30, or like squibs. Put them, mouth downwards, into rocket heads.

_PEAc.o.c.k'S PLUMES._

These are a combination of rain and star. Roll them like pill-box cases, on a 3/8 inch former, about 1-3/4 inches long; charge one end, 3/8 of an inch deep, with coloured fire, driven in dry; fill up with gold, or silver rain, with a film of sh.e.l.l fuse at the top, to bind. Cut a bit of match, 2-1/4 inches long, lay it outside the case, so that it projects 3/8 of an inch at one end; envelope it in a piece of double-crown, fig.

90; tuck in the paper, to press the match, at one end, on the colour; twist the other to a point. Both ends thus light at once; and the rain appears, like a coloured star, with a tail.

To prime a case with match laid flat on the mouth. Take a piece of thread, or fine string, and fold, or bend it, in the middle, as at fig.

76. Tie a knot near the bent end, as at a, fig. 77. Bring the knot, a, up to the side of the case, as at fig. 78; pa.s.s the loose ends round, and tie in a knot, at b. Lay the bits of match flat across, as at e, fig. 79; bring the threads together, and tie them at c. Or bend tape match across, and tie, as at d.

To get a fine thread through a long pipe, or the hem of a bag. Take a piece of copper wire, and bend it round at one end, as z, fig. 88. Pa.s.s the end, z, forward, and push it through to the other end of the bag, &c., then bend it to the form of x, fig. 89; pa.s.s the string through the loop x, and pull the wire back.

_SAUCISSONS._

These are a large kind of serpent, charged on a nipple, like a wheel case, with solid drift and mallet. They may be 5/8 or 6/8 or larger; about 3-1/2 inches long. Drive in brilliant fire, or gerbe, fig. 84, 1-1/2 inch; fill up to within 1/2 an inch of the top with F grain powder; and plug the end with plaster of paris, or a bit of wood, fastened with a tack or two. Press a piece of touch-paper, or double-crown, into the shape of a deep pill-box; fill it with F grain powder; fit it to the mouth of the saucisson; tie round the choke; brush, with meal paste, the outside, at bottom, and dip into dry meal.

These saucissons are to be fired in a volley. Procure, say 2 dozen, iron tubes, a, b, c, &c., each a foot long; fit them with a wooden bottom, fig. 92, having a tenon, t, an inch long; let it be fastened with a screw on each side. Bore a hole through, to make a communication with the mortar formed by the tube. Take a board, an inch thick, of suitable length and breadth; bore in it 2 dozen holes, of a size to fit the tenons; glue these in, so that the tubes, or mortars, stand upright, in rows, side by side, like the pieces on a chess-board. Invert it. Nail a rim all round, so as to make a box, 2 or 3 inches deep. Cut a groove from hole to hole of the tenons; connect all the holes with naked match, also push a bit of match up all the holes in the tenons; now fill the box with sawdust, and nail a board on, to serve for a bottom, and to keep the sawdust in. Invert it; and put a saucisson, mouth downwards, into each mortar. Fig. 84 represents a single saucisson; w, w, w, fig.

85, saucissons in the mortars. On firing the match at s, it is evident the cases will be driven out rapidly, one after the other. The sawdust prevents the flash igniting the whole at once.

_PEARL STREAMERS._

Paste brown paper all over, and roll up a case, of four or five thicknesses, on an inch and a quarter, or an inch and a half former, like a rocket or other case; when dry, cut it in the lathe (see fig. 27) into inch lengths--inch-deep bottomless pill-boxes. Set one on a foot, fig. 9, to enter about 1/8 of an inch; mallet in the pearl streamer fuse, till nearly full, then a little meal powder; remove it from the foot, and press in flat, with a knife, a little plaster of paris, to form a bottom. They will have the appearance of bungs; fire them in volleys, like saucissons, from suitable-sized mortars. Primed end downwards, of course. Match may be tied on, as in figs. 78 and 79.

_BLUE LIGHTS & STAR CANDLES, OR STAR LIGHTS._

These are little cases, charged with the funnel and wire; the latter are filled with spur fire.

_PRINCE OF WALES'S FEATHERS._

These are simply pinwheel pipes, usually of coloured double-crown, charged with pinwheel fuse, and not wound on a block, but kept straight.

_LANCES._

These are little cases charged with white or coloured star composition.

They should be of white or coloured double-crown paper, rolled dry on the squib former, and secured at the edge with paste in the usual way.

They may be from 2-1/2 to 4 inches long, as may be required; press in one end to make a bottom. To do this, bore a hole through a piece of cork or a small bung, and through it push a piece of bra.s.s wire or stair-rod, fig. 81, of a suitable diameter. It can then be set to any distance, like a cutting gauge. If the lance case is 2-1/2 inches long, set the bung at rather more than 2-1/4 inches from the end. Put it up the case, and, holding it with the left hand, with the right, with a piece of wire push in the end to make a flat bottom. Charge with the squib funnel and wire; and prime the mouth with very slightly damped meal. Lances are used for forming letters and designs, similar to gas jets. Frames for letters and devices are made with pieces of thin wood and cane, or hooping, for straight lines and curves. A number of wires, 3 inches apart, are driven into the frames so as to stand forward, at right angles, and the lances are fixed on them. The following is the way of proceeding. Procure some inch French nails, or inch rivets; the former at the ironmonger's; the latter at the grindery shops. Drive them in, at the proper distances; then, with a pair of cutting pliers or nippers, cut off their heads. Drive a piece of wire, the same thickness as the nails, into a bradawl handle, and leave it projecting 3/8 of an inch; file this triangular, or three-sided, and pointed. Push this triangular bradawl up the bottom of the lance, then fix the lance on the wire destined to receive it; it will be more secure if the wire is touched with a dip of glue before pressing the lance on. Having completed the letter or device, proceed to leader it. For this purpose have a supply of 1/2-inch rivets; they may be purchased at the grindery shops for about 5_d._ per lb. Take a length of leadered or piped quickmatch; lay one end of it on the mouth of a lance; push the triangular bradawl through the match and down into the lance; turn the bradawl round, which will insure the breaking of the match and of the priming; withdraw the bradawl, and push in a rivet; and so proceed. Take a strip of flannel 3 inches broad, roll it into the shape of a cork, and secure it from untwisting with a bit of string. Dip this into a solution of gum arabic or thick dextrine, and rub it over a sheet of double-crown. When dry, cut the sheet into pieces about half an inch broad and an inch and a half long, something like postage stamps. Take one of these, damp it like a postage stamp, and press it over the joining, and smooth it round the lance. Or a strip of paper may be pasted, and pressed round. The match will thus be nailed, as it were, to the lances; and prevented from slipping off by the gummed or pasted strip of paper. A common bradawl will not answer the purpose so well as a triangular one, as the sharp edges of the latter break the match and priming, and insure the ignition.

TO FORM A DEVICE, OR DESIGN.

Take a sheet of paper, and draw upon it a representation of whatever is intended, as a temple, a mosque, a ship, a horse, George and the dragon, &c.; then cross the design with lines, at regular distances, and at right angles, so as to cover it with squares, as fig. 86. It is now requisite to have a floor, of a considerable size; but not necessarily so large as the design intended to be fired, as a part can be done at a time; this floor must be divided into large squares, and the device from the small pattern, fig. 86, transferred to it, and the outlines chalked on the floor, fig. 87. After this a number of frames are to be made, of deal, or other wood, like square lattice-work, as fig. 91. A frame is then to be laid on the floor, so as to cover _a portion_ of the design; and the French nails, or inch rivets, before mentioned, driven in, at distances of 3 inches, to receive the lances. Every frame must be numbered, and a copy kept in miniature, so that they may be correctly fitted together, to form the figure, without delay or error. To distribute the fire rapidly, over an extensive piece, it is necessary, at points, to make one leader light several, simultaneously. Suppose 10 are to be lighted at once: bring the 10 ends together and tie them; envelope them with a piece of double-crown, projecting a couple of inches; in the void put a scoop of meal; bring in the single match that is to light them, and tie as usual. Paste a piece of paper over all, to make secure.

TO PRESERVE STEEL FILINGS, OR CAST-IRON BORINGS.